Australian biotech company CSL accused of shifting $5bn in revenue to Switzerland

The Herald Sun reports on Australia’s third-biggest company, CSL potential shifting of up to $5bn in revenue to Switzerland over the past five years in order to reduce its tax bill In Australia.

CSL has lobbied against changes to Australian legislation to require greater tax transparency.

The report draws on data provided in confidence to the newspaper by CICTAR which appears to show the company moving revenue from high tax jurisdictions such as Australia to Switzerland, where corporate tax rates can be very low and there are special deductions available for intellectual property including patents on medicines.

Jason Ward, the principal analyst of the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research, said that ”the findings appear to contradict CSL’s claim to support tax transparency through country by country reporting of payments to government coffers.”

A CSL spokesperson defended the company’s tax practices, saying “(T)he majority of CSL’s tax is paid in the countries where we have the most significant operations,”